TINNUNCULUS ALAUDARIUS. 
Kestrel. 
Falco tinnunculus, Linn. Syst. Nat., tom. i. p. 127. 
aureus, Klein, Av., 49, 52, 53. — Id. Ov. t. vi. fig. 4. 
interstinctus, M‘Clell. Proc. of Zool. Soc. 1839, p. 154. 
fasciatus, Retz. Faun. Suec., p. 70. 
hrunneus, Bechst. Taschenb. Deutsch., tom. i. p. 38. 
alaudarius, Gmel. Syst. Nat., tom. i. p. 279 . 
Accipiter alaudarius, Briss. Orn., tom. i. p. 379. 
tinnunculus, Briss. Orn., tom. i. p. 393. 
Tinnunculus alaudarius, Vieill. 
interstinctus, Gray, Gen. of Birds, vol. i. p. 21. sp. 3. 
CercJineis tinnunculus, Bonap. Comp. List of Eur. and N. Amer. Birds, p. 5. 
So much has been written respecting the habits and economy of the Kestrel by both British and Continental 
authors, that it will not be necessary to give any lengthened details on these points, as they must be well 
known to every one at all acquainted with the history of our native birds ; I shall therefore content myself 
by stating all that it is necessary to say respecting it in as succinct a manner as may be. First, then, as 
to its distribution : no one of the British Falcons and Hawks is so widely and so generally spread over England, 
Ireland, and Scotland — every locality being alike frequented, whether it be barren Avastes, heathy moorlands, 
or districts under cultivation ; on the continent of Europe it is equally diffused from east to west, and from 
south to north ; it is just as abundant throughout Africa northward of the Tropic, Asia Minor, and the entire 
peninsula of India, from the Himalayas to Cape Comorin ; and that its range extends even still further east 
has been proved by the receipt of specimens collected by Mr. Swinhoe in China, which do not materially 
differ from those killed in England. Why are Kestrels so numerous when compared with other Falcons and 
Hawks ? Our acquaintance with them tells us that of all the members of the Falconidee they are the most 
omnivorous, and that, instead of confining themselves to birds and small quadrupeds, insects, Avhich are preyed 
upon almost indiscriminately, form a considerable part of their diet; and hence, as the abundance of this kind of 
food is greater, the greater is the number both of the individuals and of the various species of Kestrel to which 
the generic name of Tinnunculus has been given. But to return to our own bird, the only one of its genus 
Avhich visits Great Britain : Avhat are its habits ? what are its peculiarities ? Tlie first and most striking is 
undoubtedly its manner of hovering and sustaining itself in the air at one fixed position. Few, I conceive, who 
have left the town, the mansion, or the cottage, and gone out for a country ramble, but must have noticed 
a stationary object between them and the sky. This is the Kestrel in pursuit of his daily calling, scan- 
ning the earth for a mouse, an insect, a lizard, or, if it be the season of summer, a young lark or 
other bird. For several seconds (sometimes for a minute or more) this speck in the sky appears motionless ; 
his next movement will tell us if his penetrating eye has been attracted by some living object below ; for 
if so, he descends like a stone towards the ground ; if not, his beautifully constructed wings bear him 
away in a succession of graceful sweeps to another part of the heath or common, where he again enacts the 
scene I have endeavoured to describe, but Avhich will perhaps be rendered more intelligible by a reference 
to the accompanying Plate, where the bird figured is shown to be a male by the black bar across the end of 
Its outspread silvery tail. Independently of these peculiar aerial evolutions, the Kestrel sometimes gives chase 
to small birds, or hunts near the ground for the nestling partridge, or perhaps a leveret ; but this is not the 
rule, and pray let not my mentioning that he occasionally destroys a partridge chick be arraigned against 
him, and his doom sealed in the mind of every keeper of game ; rather consider the good he undoubtedly 
performs by destroying the voracious Shrew, the Field-Mouse, the young Weasel, Snake, and Adder, all of 
Avhich he has been known to kill. “ In summer,” says Mr. Selby, “ the Cockchafer supplies to this species 
an object of pursuit and food ; and the folloAving curious account is given by an eye-witness of the fact. 
‘ I had,’ says he, ‘ the pleasure, this summer, of seeing the Kestrel engaged in an occupation entirely nevv 
to me, haAvking after Cockchafers late in the evening. I watched him through a glass, and saw him dart 
through a swarm of the insects, seize one in each claw, and eat them whilst flying. He returned to the 
charge again and again. I ascertained it beyond a doubt, as I afterwards shot him.’ ” In taking its prey, 
the Kestrel neither affects the bold, impetuous swoop of the Peregrine, nor the dashing, low, skimming flight 
of the SparroAV-HaAvk. In its disposition it is more tame and docile, or less bold than other Falcons. In 
confirmation of which trait in its nature I may cite the folloAving interesting instance, which has been 
